Ann Elizabeth Looper Pryor

Ann Elizabeth Looper Pryor passed away on March 6, 2026, following a brief but brutal battle with an aggressive form of non-small cell lung cancer. She was 64 and a non-smoker.

A baby girl was born on July 31, 1961, at the Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) in Charleston and was adopted shortly thereafter by Evelyn (Goodman) and Wilbur Looper of Florence, South Carolina. They named her Ann Elizabeth. Her proud parents liked to say that Ann was “selected, not expected.” The family lived briefly in Florence and Baltimore before returning to Florence, where Ann’s sister, Mary, was born in 1966. A few years later the family settled in Pickens, South Carolina, where Evelyn and Wilbur remained for the rest of their lives. Evelyn taught high school English and Spanish, and Wilbur—a World War II veteran and survivor of the Battle of the Bulge—coached high school football and baseball while teaching World Geography and History.

Ann’s life changed during her junior year of high school when she visited the College of Charleston on a class trip. She knew immediately she had found her future. When her acceptance letter arrived in 1979, she framed it and kept it for the rest of her life. At the College she majored in Political Science and pledged Alpha Delta Pi, forming lifelong friendships and a deep devotion to the institution she loved. She graduated in 1983.

In 1984 Ann moved to Washington, D.C., to work for the legendary South Carolina Senator Strom Thurmond as a Press and Public Relations Assistant. The experience proved transformative. She wrote press releases, coordinated media access, and learned the value of constituent service—lessons that shaped her lifelong commitment to public affairs and her membership rolls.

She later spent six years as Director of Government Affairs for the American Institute of Architects (AIA), representing the organization’s 56,000 members before Congress and the White House. During this time, she developed a lasting appreciation for both architecture and national politics.

Her work with AIA eventually brought her to Columbia, South Carolina, where she served as Executive Director of the organization’s Columbia chapter. While she sometimes jokingly referred to that period as “the lost year,” it produced one of the most meaningful developments of her life—her first dog, a chocolate Boykin Spaniel puppy named Abby. From that moment forward, Ann never lived without a dog.

Her next assignment took her to Sacramento, California, where she managed a major statewide campaign opposing a ballot initiative that architects believed would harm their profession. The effort required constant travel throughout California and successfully raised $2 million and defeated the proposition.

Returning to Washington, Ann joined McGraw-Hill as Director of Regional Alliances, splitting her time between Washington and Manhattan. Around this time, she sought daycare for Abby and in the process reconnected with a friend who had opened Washington’s first dog daycare, Dogma. This connection led to a party invitation and an introduction to a certain Greg Pryor. That introduction marked the beginning of a three-year courtship.

Greg, a senior professional at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland, had two dogs, a fenced yard, and a dog door—elements that Ann considered significant plusses. Ann and Abby slid smoothly into the mix. Greg and Ann’s father bonded immediately over baseball, with Greg affectionately calling him “Coach.” Ann and Greg married in Sunset, South Carolina, in 2002.

Together they made an effort to expand Ann’s travel resume, visiting Puerto Rico, Italy, Bermuda, the United Kingdom, Mexico, and Costa Rica. Ann loved Florence, Italy, though she famously disliked Mazatlán.

Throughout her career Ann remained deeply grateful for the education and opportunities she received from the College of Charleston and her time on Capitol Hill. Wanting other students to have similar experiences, she established the W. N. Looper Scholarship, which provides a College of Charleston student with the opportunity to intern on Capitol Hill each summer. Since its founding, the scholarship has supported twelve students.

In 2015 Ann returned to the institution she loved when she was selected as Vice President for Alumni Affairs at the College of Charleston. She accepted the role with great joy, even though it meant a significant pay cut, believing it was the perfect way to conclude her professional career by serving her alma mater and its alumni community.

Another remarkable chapter in Ann’s life began in 2017 when DNA testing through Ancestry and 23andMe connected her with relatives she had never known. Mark and Stephanie Pratt of Augusta, Georgia, were able to identify Ann’s birth mother as Mark’s Aunt Ann (oh the irony!) and welcomed Ann and Greg into a large extended family of cousins. Additional discoveries led to connections with her adopted half-siblings, Lauren Hammock of Portland, Oregon, and Ivan Washburn of Raleigh, North Carolina. Ann cherished the opportunity to embrace this newly discovered family.

Ann died in the Intensive Care Unit at MUSC with Greg by her side and holding her hand.

Ann was an Organ Donor and Greg elected to donate her corneas hours after her death. He knew she would be pleased.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Evelyn and Wilbur Looper; her in-laws, Terry and Hal Pryor; and her brother-in-law Jeff Pryor.

She is survived by her husband of 23 years, Greg Pryor; their beloved dogs Biscuit, Tallulah, Rhett, and Bramble; her sister Mary Thrift and her husband Scott of Pickens, South Carolina, and their children Emily, Lara, Thomas, and Blair; her sister Lauren Hammock and her husband Andrew Lewinter of Santa Fe, New Mexico; and her brother Ivan Washburn and his wife Joan of Creedmoor, North Carolina, and their children Alexandra, Victoria, and Daniel. She is also survived by her brother-in-law B.J. Pryor and his wife Jodi Fisler of Williamsburg, Virginia, and her sister-in-law Eileen Pryor of Silver Spring, Maryland, along with many cousins, grand nieces, friends, sorority sisters, colleagues, and former students whose lives she touched.

Ann’s life was defined by loyalty—to her family, to her friends, to her dogs, to her sorority, and above all to the College of Charleston. She approached life with warmth, curiosity, a remarkable sense of humor, and generosity. Those who knew her will remember her love of conversation, her work ethic, her fierce devotion to the College, and the enduring friendships she cultivated throughout her life.

In lieu of flowers please consider a donation to the College of Charleston Alumni Association.

Ann chose to be cremated, and her ashes will be preserved with Abby’s until Greg’s ashes can join them.

A Celebration of Life event is planned for Friday, April 17, tentatively 4-7pm, at The Waverly, 94 Stuart St., Charleston, SC 29403.